Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa prefecture, says his personal story is deeply entwined with the U.S. military’s presence on the island.

Okinawa, which sits closer to China than to Japan's main islands, is the focus of U.S. and Japanese efforts to beef up defenses in Japan's southwest islands.

One hundred newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 among U.S. forces on the small island that hosts about half the Americans stationed in Japan are further testing tense ties with Okinawa.